The Censored Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Guide: Q-R

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CBS: The scene in which Daffy substitutes his egg for a firecracker for the alligator to grab only for the alligator to suspect treachery and put the firecracker back beneath Daffy's behind, was eliminated.

ABC, CBS, Merrie Melodies, WB: Places in these cartoons at which Elmer fires his rifle upon Daffy's head-and beak- were edited to avoid showing the gunshots. While Merrie Melodies would superimpose still shots of Bugs observing the violence over the gun discharge, which was therefore heard but not seen, ABC would completely remove the firing of the rifle, sound and picture.Nickelodeon: When "Rabbit Fire" aired, gone was the, "No more bullets!" routine, apparently because it involves Daffy looking into a gun.

"Rabbit Hood" (Jones; 1949):

ABC: This cartoon was altered in two places. When the Sheriff is building his house in the King's garden, he realizes that he was duped into doing this by Bugs and gnashes his teeth with nails in them. There was then a false fade-out to eliminate the Sheriff grabbing a hammer and hitting himself on the head several times with it, saying, "Oooh, I hate myself! I do! I do! I do!" Near the end of this cartoon, with Bugs dressing as the King and "knighting" the Sheriff by pounding him on the head many, many times with a scepter, ABC reduced the number of hits to the Sheriff's head to one, which rendered this unedited statement by Bugs senseless: "Got lots of stamina!"

"Rabbit Romeo" (McKimson; 1957):

CBS: Missing was the scene wherein Bugs has a goldfish kiss Millicent instead of himself, the goldfish then returning to its bowl, producing a gun, and shooting itself to death with the gun.Merrie Melodies: Same edit as on CBS.WB: This scene was edited out of the cartoon: Millicent asks Bugs for a kiss; so, Bugs grabs an electric fan and presses it against her lips. Millicent's lips only destroy the fan, leaving her to remark, "Hmmm. Not bad for a beginner!"

"The Rabbit of Seville" (Jones; 1950):

ABC: Some of Elmer's gunshots were deleted. Possible editing was also done to reduce the depicted violence in the scene of Bugs slashing Elmer's face with a razor.

"Rabbit's Feat" (Jones; 1960):

CBS: Wile E. lunges for Bugs and falls into the pot of hot water intended for the rabbit. ("Oh, Father, you're stewed again.")WB: Wile E's gun discharging its bullets and blasting him in the face after Bugs moves the pin at the end of the gun nozzle to the other side of said nozzle, was eliminated.

"Racketeer Rabbit" (Freleng; 1946):

WB: All gunshot gags (Rocky shooting his pistol at the police, Hugo needing a board to keep himself standing while firing his machine gun, Bugs walking under a line of gunfire and saying, "Low bridge," etc.) were removed from the beginning of this cartoon. Also deleted was the last part of the scene wherein Rocky has Bugs in a chair and demands that Bugs talk. Bugs refuses until Rocky points a gun in his face, and Bugs starts talking like an auctioneer.

"Ready, Set, Zoom!" (Jones; 1955):

ABC: These two scenes, both involving explosives, were omitted. Wile E. spreads glue across the read and readies to lob a lit dynamite stick at the Road Runner; instead, the Road Runner runs so fast that he splashes the glue over Wile E., leaving Wile E. stuck to the dynamite, with the standard outcome. Wile E. later uses a lasso with lit sticks of dynamite tied to it, and the dynamite explodes before he can throw the lasso.

"Ready, Woolen, and Able" (Jones; 1960):

ABC: These two scenes were deleted: 1) Ralph places a plank under Sam's backside and a dynamite stick at the other end of the plank, hoping to propel the dynamite onto Sam, but when Ralph jumps on the plank, the TNT merely rolls over to Ralph and detonates; 2) After Ralph and his parachute descend over Sam after the Spring Boots technique fails, Sam grabs Ralph by the neck and punches him off of a cliff.

"Rebel Rabbit" (McKimson; 1949):

CN: The scene that shows the headline: "Bugs Bunny Gives Manhattan Back to the Indians" and that has Bugs saying, "They (Indians) wouldn't take it (Manhattan) unless I threw in a set of dishes," is missing.FOX: Same edit as on CN.WB: Same edit as on CN.

"The Rebel Without Claws" (Freleng; 1961):

CN: There is a fade to black before the Confederate officer can say, "Damn Yankees," and when Tweety says, "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat," the "damn" is missing.Merrie Melodies: The scenes on the ship involving cannon blasts to Sylvester's face were omitted from the cartoon proper but included as a "Hip Clip" in another installment of Merrie Melodies.WB: When the Confederate officer says, "Damn Yankees," the "damn" was deleted. Also, Tweety's line, "I tawt I taw a damn Yankee tat," was censored altogether.

"Red-Headed Baby" (Harman and Ising; 1931):

TBS: The redrawn version of this cartoon that aired in black and white was without a scene of the title character singing a song with two black dolls.

"Red Riding Hoodwinked" (Freleng; 1955):

ABC: When Sylvester splashes the wolf with a bucket of water, the wolf procedes to beat Sylvester with the bucket five times. This was shortened to one and a half times.

"Rhapsody Rabbit" (Freleng; 1946):

WB: Gone was Bugs becoming annoyed by an off-screen audience member's coughing and then gunning him dead.

"Riff Raffy Daffy" (Davis; 1948):

ABC: The scene wherein Daffy drops Porky down an open elevator shaft was excised. Also gone was Daffy giving to Porky a lit July 4 firecracker.

"Road to Andalay" (Freleng; 1964):

Syndication: Malcolm Falcon tears away a piece of Sylvester's scalp as he ascends to fly in pursuit of Speedy.

"Robot Rabbit" (Freleng; 1953):

ABC: Removed from this cartoon was the scene in which the robot mistakes both a mule and Elmer for rabbits and shoots at them with its laser gun.CBS: In addition to the same deleted scene as on ABC, this was omitted: Elmer fires several gunshots into Bugs' rabbit hole, prompting a phony death scene by the rabbit. ("Hooway! The wabbit kicked the bucket!") Later, Bugs lures the robot to chase him back and forth under an active pile driver. The audience did not see this but did view Bugs later delivering the demolished remains of the robot in a bucket to Fudd.Merrie Melodies: A still shot of the mule with a befuddled look on its face was superimposed over the robot blasting Elmer with its laser gun.

"Roman Legion-Hare" (Freleng; 1953):

ABC: Yosemite Sam is standing in front of a lion's cage, unaware that there are no iron bars between him and the lion that he is hitting over the head with a club. Several of the strikes to the lion's head were deleted.CN: Bugs' line, "Well, as the Romans say, e pluribus uranium," is gone.

"Rookie Revue" (Freleng; 1941):

CN: In the series of mess hall gags, the scene featuring the "suicide squad" unhappily eating out of a large bowl labeled "Hash" is removed.

"Rover's Rival" (Clampett; 1937):

Nickelodeon: A young puppy calling Rover "an old antique" seemed to be intentionally muffled in the redrawn version of "Rover's Rival".

"Russian Rhapsody" (Clampett; 1944):

Syndication: There appears to be too quick a change in Hitler's expression and attitude between his spooking by a Stalin mask and his being dropped out of the airplane's bomb bay door. Likewise after the gremlin with the thumbtack on its head jumps into Hitler's buttocks.